School's Improvement Shines Through In Audit

^{Logan Reserve State School's learning support Wendy Beutel and Karen Watson, year six/seven captain Lewis Sauer, deputy principal Naveen Lim, literacy and numeracy support Wendy Gray, principal Penny Eising, science specialist Donna Turnbull and school captain Laura Wendt.}

LOGAN Reserve State School has come out on top of local schools in recent Queensland school audits.

Both Logan Reserve and Veresdale Scrub State Schools achieved five 'high' scores across eight categories looking at school systems and processes.

Schools were rated low to outstanding in areas including learning culture, teaching team, systematic curriculum delivery, differentiated classroom learning and effective teaching practices.

The result was a significant achievement for Logan Reserve State School - having achieved just one high score in its 2010 audit.

"I was delighted to see the amount of improvement we made within a year, which is testament to our teachers," principal Penny Eising said.

"It's a huge achievement. We knew we had worked hard but not whether we'd made enough improvement to go up to five highs - we were ecstatic."

Ms Eising attributed the results to the schools "wonderful and hard working staff".

"We do an awful lot of professional development, we have different teams that look at programs in behaviour of children, we look at goals and targets and we use a lot of research," she said.

Following the audits personalised improvement plans were prepared, based on the latest international best practice. Ms Eising said the process was great for professional development.

"We were reviewed last year then we use that to plan for the next four years in teaching and learning," she said.

"We learnt a lot by doing it. It's a benchmark and you're aiming to improve all the time."

Ms Eising said the school would keep that benchmark high.

"Were certainly working towards outstanding," she said.

"We keep aiming at improving everything we do and every year we are improving."

The audits were carried out over two years at 1258 primary, secondary and special schools, schools of distance education and environmental education centres throughout Queensland.

Overall, more than 90 per cent of schools scored ratings of medium, high or outstanding in six of the eight criteria, while 77 per cent of schools improved in their second audit.

The audits are to be conducted every four years.

Photo and story courtesy of Jimboomba Times.

^{Our School

Logan Reserve State School is committed to providing a high quality education to enable its students to become active citizens in a global society. Our purpose is to provide quality opportunities for all students to facilitate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to deal confidently with life’s pathways into the future, enabling them to make a productive contribution to society while fulfilling their needs.}

^{OUR VISION}

^{A quality school characterised by quality relationships, quality work and quality outcomes for all members of the school community.}

^{MISSION STATEMENT}

^{Our purpose at Logan Reserve State School is students’ engagement and achievement in learning. We value learning that is flexible, challenging, dynamic and is the result of a consistent and continuous focus on effective planning, teaching, monitoring and assessment practices. We provide a learning environment that is welcoming, caring and supportive of each individual child. The school views the child as a whole person and will provide opportunities for intellectual, social, emotional and physical development to enable each child to fulfil his/her potential both as an individual and as a member of society.}

^BELIEFS

^{In accordance with the mission of Logan Reserve State School, we believe that:}

^{schooling is a socialising experience and should provide children with a wide variety of social contexts to which they learn to respond, appropriately and effectively.}
^{recognising the individuality of each child and giving attention to the individual needs, interests and abilities of pupils is an affirmation by teachers of a belief in the intrinsic worth of each individual.}
^{in encouraging all members of the school community to realise their full potential both within and outside the school.}
^{that effective learning depends on children having a positive self-concept which is developed in a caring, supportive environment where their efforts are valued and their attempts to extend themselves through risk taking are encouraged.}
^{that children learn developmentally and experientially and access different learning styles which require teachers to utilise a variety of teaching strategies.}
^{that the role of professional staff is to facilitate learning in a stimulating, supportive environment in which the child is viewed as an active participant in the teaching-learning process.}
^{that communication among all members of our school community should be open and effective.}
^{that education is a partnership between home and school.}
^{that as a progressive school we should be aware of the findings of recent educational research and respond to these after critical examination.}

Logan Reserve State School

School Road, Logan Reserve, Qld, 4133